My cousin sent me a burned copy of a Johnny Cash concert from June 26, 1994 in Glastonbury, England. I popped it into the CD player Wednesday morning.

When The Man in Black sang, in that unmistakable, deep and dark voice "cause there's something in a Sunday that makes a body feel alone," he wasn't singing about the NFL.

Cash sang about something entirely different. But if you are a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs or the St. Louis Rams or if you lost a team in a suicide pool or, even worse, lost more cash than you won on NFL games last week, a Sunday can be lonely.

Melodrama aside, I'm beginning to wonder if there is such a thing as Lock of the Week or Upset Special because the underdog beats the favorite often enough for no game in the NFL to be a guarantee.

If picking these games and beating the spread were so easy, we'd all be 46-0 in the office pool and collecting money each week.

We know parity exists in the sense that Arizona, Houston or Detroit won't play in the Super Bowl this season, but the Cardinals, Texans and Lions can be in — and even win — games, home or away, on Sunday.

Houston over Kansas City at Arrowhead? It's an upset, but not necessarily a surprise.

I watched a bit of the NFL Network's program Point After: Sounds of the Game after listening to the Johnny Cash show and Ravens coach Brian Billick told his team after Sunday's win at Cincinnati: "I'll say it again and again and again, winning on the road in the NFL is the hardest thing to do in all of team sports."

Well, maybe not that difficult.

After 46 NFL games, the road hasn't been all that unpleasant for traveling teams. Road teams are 20-26, going 7-9 in Week 1, 6-10 in Week 2 and 7-7 in Week 3. The road team also has covered 59% of the time.

The road will be an interesting place for several teams in Week 4. Philadelphia at Chicago, Washington at Cleveland, Indianapolis at Jacksonville, Atlanta at Carolina, Kansas City at Baltimore, Oakland at Houston, New York Jets at Miami, Tennessee at San Diego, Denver at Tampa Bay, St. Louis at San Francisco, New England at Buffalo and New Orleans at Arizona.

It's reasonable to argue the road team could win in each of those 12 games. The home team is the favorite in just three of 14 games this week. Is it possible for road teams to go 11-3, 12-2?

Prognosticate at your own peril.

(Parenthetical info: The NFL Network is addicting TV with all the video footage from postgame locker room scenes with coaches and players before the media is allowed in, the NFL Films Presents and even Rich Eisen's NFL Total Access can be informative and entertaining. I even had a tough time writing this while NFL's Greatest Games showed highlights from the 1962 Packers-Giants championship game.)

This week's picks are dedicated to Monster Stadium, previously known as Candlestick Park, previously known as 3Com Park, previously known as Candlestick Park. Monster Cable Products Inc., a Bay Area company that makes high performance stereo speaker cables, outbid other companies for the naming rights

New York Giants (+7) at Green Bay

Flippant: Lambeau Field changes its name to Johnsonville Stadium.

Serious: The 2-1 Giants, with wins over the Redskins and Browns and a loss to the Eagles, are not as good as the 1-2 Packers, who won at Carolina, lost at home to the improved Bears and lost at Indianapolis.

Packers 23, Giants 17

Philadelphia (-9) at Chicago

Flippant: Soldier Field is now Kingston Mines Coliseum.

Serious: With Rex Grossman, this game might have been the Upset Special. With the injured Grossman out and new starter Jonathan Quinn in, this is almost the Lock of the Week. Take that back. Make it the Lock.

Lock of the Week: Eagles 31, Bears 17

Washington (-3) at Cleveland

Flippant: Cleveland Browns Stadium becomes Rock and Roll Stadium.

Flippant: Against Dallas in Week 2, Browns QB Jeff Garcia had a 0.0 quarterback rating. When called into coach Butch Davis' office, Davis told Garcia: "Mr. Garcia, zero point zero. Inaccurate, turnover-prone and ineffective is no way to go through the NFL, son."

Redskins 21, Browns 17

Indianapolis (-4) at Jacksonville

Flippant: Jags change stadium name to PGA Tour Park.

Flippant: Fantasy fans want to know: Will Jacksonsville score more than two offensive touchdowns in a game this year?

Upset special: Jaguars 20, Colts 17

New England (-5½ ) at Buffalo

Flippant: Buffalo Wing-T Park.

Serious: Even Jacksonville averages more points a game than the Bills. The Patriots' winning streak is not in jeopardy Sunday.

Patriots 24, Bills 13

Oakland (-2) at Houston

Flippant: Reliant Stadium is now Disgraced Enron Stadium.

Serious: Backup QBs in the NFL will see playing time, and the Raiders don't lose much with Kerry Collins starting in place of injured Rich Gannon.